It was an odd winter. From the hail storm last summer to now.
There was no snow until after Christmas and before Christmas it was very warm. We had a few medium snow storms which were followed soon after by rain which melted it away, then more warm spells. We did have a cold snap or two which wasn't very kind to the plants where the ground was bare. I had been trying to plan for some winter pruning but with the unusual temperatures i was not convinced that the plants were dormant for certain and that another unexpected warm set of days would wake them up. I did get the grape pruning started Friday and i totally pruned the Stanley Plum. i think i got all of the black knot eruptions but had to cut it back so severely. The big pruners weren't enough and i had to use a small cross cut saw. Then i coated what was left with a fungicide product called Fung-onil. The weather was just below freezing and the spray on product was thickened at that temperature (more like a splatter than spray) so i ended up applying much of it with a medium sized paint brush. I covered as much surface as i could and put extra care towards the fresh cuts.
Regardless of the weird winter, i'm going to start seeds soon. I may actually get sweet and hot peppers going on time as well as eggplant. I'm also going to remember to plant okra.
I have made a number of small seed orders so far but it will be inventory time before i go any further.
As far as the rest of the outdoors, the edging is a complete mess. I'm seriously considering replacing it entirely. Something like this:
The plastic edging simply isn't tall enough to sit deep enough and hold steady, but hubby thinks it won't look nice. I might try it on a smaller bed and expand on it later if he gives up.
